Inart history, the French termobjet d'art (/ˌɒbʒeɪˈdɑːr/ ⓘ;French pronunciation:[ɔbʒɛdaʁ]) describes an ornamentalwork of art, and the termobjets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish that emphasises the aesthetics of the artefact.[1] Artists create and produceobjets d’art in the fields of thedecorative arts andmetalwork,porcelain andvitreous enamel;figurines,plaquettes, andengraved gems;ivory carvings and semi-precioushardstone carvings;tapestries,antiques, andantiquities; and books with finebookbinding.
TheNational Maritime Museum,Greenwich, London, describes their accumulated artworks as a: "collection ofobjets d’art [which] comprises over 800 objects. These are mostly small, decorative art items that fall outside the scope of the Museum’s ceramic, plate, textiles and glass collections." The artwork collection also includes metal curtain ties, a lacqueredpapier-maché tray, tobacco boxes,cigarette cases,découpage (cut-paper items),portrait miniatures, a gilt-brass clock finial, plaques, statuettes, plaquettes, ahorse brass, a metal pipe tamper, a smallglass painting, et cetera.[2]
Theobjet de vertu, whereinvertu suggests rich materials and a higher standard of refined manufacture and finish; the classification usually excludes objects made for realising a practical function. As works of art,objets de vertu reflect the rarified aesthetic andconspicuous consumption characteristic of an aristocratic court—of the late-medievalBurgundian dukes, theMughal emperors, or Ming China—such as theLycurgus Cup, which is acage cup made ofRoman glass; the Byzantine agate "Rubens vase"; the Roman glass "Portland Vase", and onyx and chalcedonycameo carvings, whilst the pre–World War I production ofobjets d'art featuredFabergé eggs made ofprecious metals and decorated withgemstones.
A comparable term that appears in 18th- and 19th-century French sale catalogs,[3] though now less used, isobjets de curiosité, "objects of curiosity",[4] now devolved into the less-valuedcurio. Elaborate late Renaissance display pieces in silver that incorporate organic elements such asostrich eggs, nuts of thecoco de mer and sea-shells are grouped in a volume, published in 1991, as "The Curiousities" in the catalogues of theWaddesdon Bequest at theBritish Museum.[5]
